Case Started in 2011.

The Dr was never arrested, never indicted, never charged.

The statue of limitations was coming up.

14 overdoses is a lot. But he has a huge practice.

If you based this off percentages, where would he compare to other Doctors.

I liked him. He was not perfect.

The prescription bottle may say, take 1 every 6 hours.

How many they took is on them. How many times he prescribed them is on him.

Sad situation for everyone involved.

Probably not the case as often as they are changing the drug to inject it in what is a considerably more dangerous and potent form often. I totally agree with you by the way.

I'll add that I do think that there are "pill mills" out there. I've known personally one physician who now is in prison for it. There are numerous others. That practice has to be stopped. But we could move from there to the methadone clinic problem and this discussion could go on for days with no end in sight. Bottom line is that I'd like to know the truth before I parade about happy that another life is gone.

And what percentage of those Drs prescribe meds that one would be able to overdose on? Keep researching, your extrapolation will eventually get close.

 

Sorry but 26000% over the odds is enough for me. The numbers are what they are. You think that kind of oddity is coincidence?? 2, maybe 3, even 4 yes but 14? I understand you're a doctor but I like the odds on my suspicions, and those of a lot of other people, being right.

"Chances" do not convict people. Clearly that was the case here as well. I have a hard time convicting a doctor if the victim is OD'ing. Are we going to start charging Anheuser Busch when people drink and drive?

 

We charge bars that serve people. I never said anything about his conviction. I'm just having a tough time being sad about someone I think did some immoral, and maybe illegal things in order to add some income.

I'll add that I do think that there are "pill mills" out there. I've known personally one physician who now is in prison for it. There are numerous others. That practice has to be stopped. But we could move from there to the methadone clinic problem and this discussion could go on for days with no end in sight. Bottom line is that I'd like to know the truth before I parade about happy that another life is gone.

 

Hey nice job going overboard, not a surprise at all. I'm not happy, I'm just not sad.

I worked for him years ago. I was not at all surprised at the charges brought against him. I am sorry to hear about his death.

I worked for him years ago. I was not at all surprised at the charges brought against him. I am sorry to hear about his death.

 

Would you like to expand or are you going to leave us all to wonder?

Would you like to expand or are you going to leave us all to wonder?

 

He was a nice guy and easy to work for. However, he had a reputation for being a doctor who wrote prescriptions rather freely. The waiting room was always full of patients who would insist on only seeing him.

Pharmaceutical companies dangling incentives over doctors' heads is a bad bad idea.

 

Some can resist the urge to over prescribe, some can't. Sorta similar to how some can resist a casino, and others can't.

 

It's important here for patients in the states to be aware of this and think hard if the motivation is for your benefit or his/hers.

 

This is not the case in some other countries, so prescribing more than not is only out of necessity without the temptation to gain.

 

It's funny... I, by choice, have been off numerous prescribed meds for a long while now with nary an issue. Obviously I didn't need them to begin with.

 

I too used to go to a few different specialist for various things that initially were necessary, but if those specialists had their way, I'd still be seeing them.

 

Everyone of them continued to say "Schedule an appointment to see me in 3-4 months". It was only by my choice to stop seeing them, and now after about 5 years of not seeing them, I have no issue.

 

Through the art of friendly diplomacy, they all seemed so nice and made me feel so welcome when walking through their doors. Me being so naive, I thought "Wow, what nice guys to make me feel so special".

 

Then I grew up and got smart. I was being manipulated.

 

12 years ago I had a Urologist tell me that I urgently needed a kidney stone operation. Since a year previous I had gone through the necessary misery of 5 operations over a 6 month period, I declined taking a "wait and see" approach, for I didn't want to go through that hell again anytime soon.

 

I'm still waiting... and I'm fine, for nature (drinking tons of water and peeing a lot) took its course.

 

Every visit to the Urologist included X-Rays. Hmmm... then I realized that the ends didn't justify the means. By stopping seeing them, I might have saved myself the development of cancer by being over radiated.

 

Funny, I could never get a couple different Urologists to sit down with me and discuss what might've been causing my stones for they were just too busy.

 

I did my own research and found the solution in my diet. It seemed that they didn't want me to figure out how to correct things with diet, for if I had no problem, they could not perform an operation.

 

If a doctor knows that the patient's insurance company is footing the bill, they'll justify that the patient is not losing any $, and "maybe" the meds and/or operations won't hurt the patient.

 

Needless to say I'm very leery of doctors' motivations anymore.

 

I'm guessing... probably not the end of the road this Doc envisioned while attending med school. Years of $$$ incentives obviously ruined him, along with many of his patients.

As someone who worked in a pharmacy in Florence, I would see 2-5 RX's per day from Dr. Shearer, all controlled substances in large quantities. He certainly seemed to have a lot of patients with chronic pain. That said, RIP Dr. Shearer.